It’s a franchise that never seems to be able to sustain success. They have given us just 7 post seasons in 46 completed seasons. They include 2 world championships, 4 National League Pennants, 5 division titles and two wild card births. Only once have the Mets entered the post season in back to back years, 1999 and 2000. They have not won a World Series in 22 years. They have not appeared in the fall classic in 8 years when they lost in 5 games to the Yankees. They have roughly averaged a playoff appearance a bit more than once a decade since their inception. We keep waiting for this team to become the constant contender. But all we seem to get is a tease then disappointment that lasts for years.
I have followed the Mets since the beginning. The Mets were awful but loveable in the 60s till they won it all in miraculous fashion in 1969. They followed that up with another series appearance in 1973 in what were several years of mediocre play at best. After ’73, they got awful again and this time they were not loveable. The closest thing to a dynasty any Mets fan old enough to remember was during the 1980s. And even then they made the playoffs a disappointing 2 times with only 1 World Series win with an extremely talented team. After the 80’s the Mets got real bad again until Bobby Valentine righted the ship in the late 90’s and got the Mets to the playoffs in 1999 and 2000. Down again they went until Omar and Willie rescued the organization and got the Mets within one win of the World Series. And since the night of October 19, 2006 when Carlos Beltran stood at the plate frozen when a curve ball from Adam Wainwright broke sharply over the plate, things have headed downstream since.
You could argue that the Mets season last year was successful because they won 88 games and lost the division by 1 game but it’s how the season ended that foils that argument. The Mets held first place for most of the 2007 season for it all to crumble the last couple of weeks. Now 39 games into the new season, a talented Mets team is just a game over .500 just having lost 4 of 7 games to two last place teams in the league. The Mets are playing lackadaisical. There is no drive in their step. They are making mental errors on the base paths. They are not hustling. When they hit, they don’t pitch and when they pitch they don’t hit. Now there may be a division in the clubhouse as indicated by Billy Wagner’s rant after yesterday’s game. All the while the manager continues to preach patience and that everything will be okay. Willie Randloph is slowly becoming the Captain Queeg of the Mets. The only thing missing is the marbles in his hand during the post game interview.
The blame cannot be entirely levied at
Perhaps that’s what needs to happen anyway for one simple reason. No one was given the axe after last year’s debacle in September. The ghosts of 2007 remain with this team and with its fans. Maybe it’s time for an exorcism. When a team succeeds, often the manager receives the praise and when a team struggles, it’s the same manager that receives the wrath. The Mets are just too loaded with talent to play as poorly and as inconstantly as they have. You have to realize that their play is not an aberration. This is the way it has been now for the last 149 games. Since last June 1st, the Mets are 74-75. With a salary of over 140 million dollars, they are the third highest paid baseball team in the land. Only the Yankees and Red Sox are earning more. For that kind of money, .500 cannot be the goal. It may be the result but for that to be the case, actions must be taken to state otherwise. It must be made clear to the players and mostly to the passionate Mets fans that this level of play will not be tolerated indefinitely.
In 1999 at Yankee Stadium during the first subway series matchup, Steve Phillips, then the GM, fired their coaching staff sending a stern message to Bobby Valentine that things had better change. Like now, the Mets were shuffling along at the .500 mark. It was a surreal scene as Phillips and Valentine in his Mets uniform stood at the podium with the Yankee logo hanging behind them. Although it was slightly later in the season than now, I wonder if a similar situation is close at hand. Bobby V guaranteed the Mets would win the majority of the next 54 games (a third of the season). The Mets responded, they righted the ship and made it to the wild card and like the 2006 team, almost made it to the World Series losing late in the NLCS. The difference however was in the following year the Mets improved and won the pennant. This current squad has headed in the opposite direction.
We have heard of no such positive proclamations from Willie Randolph. He is as low key as can be. But I am beginning to wonder if Willie’s demeanor is becoming a detriment to his leadership. There is just something not right about this club. It’s a team that projects uncertainty, a lack of confidence, and at times a general malaise. What happened at the end of May last season? Did aliens abduct the Mets and replace them with clones without emotions or did something happen between the manager and his team. It’s hard to guess what the problem is. Maybe it’s just a bad team. Maybe the streak from the beginning of 2006 to June 1, 2007 is the fluke. Whatever the case, something has got to change within this Mets clubhouse.
I like Willie Randolph. He’s a good man, a decent man. He’s knowledgeable and has been a winner throughout his career. I would hate to see him fired. But more than that, I would hate to see the Mets fail. If replacing the skipper is what it will take to turn the Mets back on course, then so be it. It’s still too early for such action but come July all bets are off.
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